I think the issue is that the Federal Reserve and Congress has allowed the banks to remove bad assets from their balance sheets which makes the companies look b

I think the issue is that the Federal Reserve and Congress has allowed the banks to remove bad assets from their balance sheets which makes the companies look better off than they actually are. The banks are pretty much insolvent right now and they know it. The problem is that Congress doesn't really know it. I think that Bernanke knows its though and that's why he's paying interest on reserves held at the Fed right now. The money supply is still contracting and while that's happening all this nonsense about the recession being over is just that-nonsense. No one wants to lend and no one wants to borrow and for good reasons.